A 22-year-old woman has been formally cleared after being accused of using drugs to have an illegal abortion.
Bethany Cox, from Teeside, was facing charges related to the 1861 Offences Against a Person Act. The details surrounding her case are vague, but Cox was accused of of child destruction for using a drug to procure an abortion in July 2020 – when the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown was coming to a close.
Some restrictions of the first lockdown were eased on 4 July 2020 in England, with pubs, restaurants, hairdressers allowed to reopen, but other restrictions remained - including social distancing.
From March 2020, in correspondence with lockdown regulations, women have been able to receive the pills by post following a phone or video consultation.
The first charge stated that on 6 July, Cox administered drugs to procure an abortion with the intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive.
The second alleged that between 2 and 7 July she administered abortion pill misoprostol with “intent to procure your own miscarriage”.
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An abortion procedure in the UK can only be performed under certain circumstances. The 1967 Abortion Actf is framed in a way that means women in the UK are not legally allowed an abortion. Instead, it gives an exemption from prosecution in certain circumstances - when two doctors agree it would be a risk to a woman’s mental or physical health.
This means the deliberate ending of a pregnancy remains illegal unless these caveats are met.
Cox had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was expected to stand trial later this month.
However, the prosecution have now decided to drop the case due to undisclosed “evidential difficulties” and that there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”.
Nicholas Lumley KC, the barrister defending Cox, condemned the ongoing decision to prosecute his client until very late stages.
“She was under investigation for three years, then prosecuted, then at the 11th hour [charges were dropped], when the court and defence highlighted evidential difficulties,” he said in a statement.
“In the throes of grief, she was interviewed and gave an account telling the police what she had done.
“The prosecution now accepts what she said to the police must have been right. That is beyond regrettable.”
Lumley added Cox, who had not been at the hearing where she was cleared, had been affected ‘profoundly’ by the ongoing proceedings.
Rachael Clarke, chief of staff at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), expressed “delight” that Cox was not forced to undergo trial.
“We hope that she can now begin to move on from this lengthy and no doubt emotional ordeal,” she added.
“As it stands, England and Wales have the most severe punishment for an illegal abortion in the world – up to life imprisonment. This is worse than countries and states with severe anti-abortion laws such as Texas, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. We are on the wrong side of history.”
The BPAS are now working with MPs on an amendment to the criminal justice bill to give more women in the UK more rights to an abortion.
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
